I’M DONE with my semester! That fact is still just hitting me. I don’t think I did as well as I wanted, but hey, I’m in EUROPE. You really expect me to work? C’mon now!

There some things outside the classroom that I learned, though:

Just how easily recognizable my accent is

How to read a menu, and along with that, lots of food words

That I don’t mind cooking for myself. It’s rare that I enjoy it, but it doesn’t provoke a “UGH, do I have to?!” reaction either

How to explain just what I need to a store clerk, usually with pantomiming involved for words I don’t know (how elegant)

How little history my country actually has

The safety instruction presentation on easyJet flights

The exact amount of time I need to get to the Smith Center

Not all advice you get is true (like that we wouldn’t need real winter coats in Switzerland? Yeah, thanks guys)

No matter how hard I try, I still accumulate more stuff that I then have to transport home

Shipping things to the United States is EXPENSIVE

The US isn’t the “US” here, it’s “the States”

I should be grateful when someone actually knows where Massachusetts is, so I don’t have to describe it as “it’s next to New York”

Macarons and baguettes are so fattening yet so sinfully good

Wine is super cheap in Europe (and cheese, too)

I discovered the one type of brie I actually like (brie Coeur de Lion)

That feeling of utter stupidity when you either A) can’t think of the word you want in French and then remember it 5 minutes AFTER it was needed, B) simply can’t express what you want/need to, or C) have absolutely no idea what someone is trying to say to you

Those stupid shower heads with no holder are the devil

Food is expensive, and I really need to stop consuming so much of it, like the aforementioned baguettes and macarons

The difference between “macaroons” (American cookies) and “macarons” (REAL macarons, which are heaven)

The Swiss are extremely punctual. Everywhere else is not.

How much it sucks to be without a free gym (Smith! I miss you!)

That even some people in Europe don’t know where Geneva is (or Switzerland, for that matter)

Where the few (VERY FEW) affordable restaurants/eateries are in Geneva

Just how ridiculous the university system is here

The fact that I speak two languages is nothing here. That is the bare minimum for most Europeans

Speaking in French on the phone is way more difficult than in person

I don’t do well sharing a kitchen with others

How to blend in abroad, and how to immediately notice Americans

I still have A LOT to learn, especially when it comes to French